


When Male Writers See Gender as the Ultimate Boundary

by astronbookfilms (galaxyture)



Category: Multi-Fandom
Genre: Meta, Nonfiction
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-17
Updated: 2018-12-17
Packaged: 2019-09-21 10:47:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 827
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17042288
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/galaxyture/pseuds/astronbookfilms
Summary: This essay examines the tendency of some professional male writers to consider gender the ultimate boundary in identifying with and sympathizing with a character.





	When Male Writers See Gender as the Ultimate Boundary

Doctors can identify with characters who are engineers. A politician can find similarity between himself and an element of a character who is an astronomer. A 40 year old plumber can see his younger self in a 20 year old retail clerk. An American man can find a connection to and root for a British character. For many men, including men who identify as feminists, the ultimate boundary they cannot cross is the gender boundary. 

Many of these men, including numerous writers and others in the entertainment industry, assume that women have the same gender boundary. Some women do have this boundary, but most women have learned to see themselves in and identify with male characters. This is particularly true women who enjoy books, films, and TV shows in male content creator dominated genres. I am not Bilbo, but as a child I found aspects of him that felt familiar. Evangeline Lily stated in an interview ( source) that as a child when she pictured the Silvan Elves there were plenty of female elves. I did the same thing.

Not only do many of these male content creators think that women can only sympathize and identify with women, but they think that women automatically identify with female characters. (The vast majority of these content creators don’t show- or even think about- people who are trans.) Perhaps such women exist, but they are even less common than the ones who can only see elements of themselves in female characters.

Some gay and bisexual men cross the gender boundary and can find elements of themselves in female characters. This can allow them to imagine themselves in a relationship with a male character in cases where there are no gay male characters. Other gay and bisexual men go in the opposite direction and are even more misogynistic than the vast majority of straight men. They particularly reject any hint that there might be something “womanly” within themselves.

I was raised Catholic. Even though my family went to more “liberal” churches I have come across really conservative Catholics. Some of these ultra-conservative male Catholic venerate the Virgin Mary to a extreme degree. They say the rosary at least once a day. They say other Marian prayers. They were a medal or scapular. They read classic books about the Virgin Mary. The Virgin Mary they venerate, however, does not resemble a real woman (or even the Jesus’ mother Mary as described in the Bible). She is completely asexual and exists solely to love and comfort men. She never gets angry or frustrated. She has no actual identity of her own. Most of these men have complete contempt for actual living breathing women especially ones that have identities beyond them and possibly being the mother of their children.

Secular and less religious Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist, etc male content creators often create their ideal woman in their work. In contrast to the ultra-conservative Catholic, their ideal woman is very physically attractive to them, very sexual, may have a job, ‘kick ass’, and a have a ‘spunky’ personality. The early ‘Bond Babes’ are a good example. They might speak 8 languages and/or be able to fix a helicopter or perform battlefield surgery, but ultimately they will fall for the male heroes charms. In the end the will follow one of two path. They will give it all up to be with him often after being defeated in an intellectual, skills based, or physical battle. Alternately, they will be a femme fatale and either end up dead or in jail or alternately escape so they can be brought down or give it all up for the male hero in future installments.

On the surface the ultra-conservative Catholic men and male content creators have diametrically opposed views. However, ultimately they are exactly the same. They both idealize women whose lives revolve around men. They both react with anger and even violent anger when a real life woman does not behave according to their ideal. 

These men react with extreme anger when women not only behave differently than their ideal women, they are behave in a way that makes no sense to these male content creators and rather than listen to women and try to understand why they react with anger and even violence.

There are, of course, men who write wonderful three-dimensional female characters. There are men who write a variety of female characters showcasing the fact that there is more than one way to be a woman. Ironically (or maybe not), these men are far less to go into a rage or dismiss women who complain about something involving one (or more) of their female characters. 

A person’s writing reflects their beliefs including ones they are unwilling to share in normal circumstances and even ones they do not admit to themselves. Even men who can “talk the talk” about respecting women and women’s autonomy do not always really believe it.

Repost from my Tumblr astronbookfilms.


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